The present invention relates to a side cover structure for use on a motorcycle.
One of the most popular designs of conventional motorcycles is composed of a motorcycle frame, a fuel tank disposed on the motorcycle frame, a driver's seat mounted on the motorcycle frame, and an engine supported on the motorcycle frame below the fuel tank and the driver's seat. In this motorcycle design, a battery, a reservoir tank for a cooling liquid of an engine cooling system, and other motorcycle elements or components are normally positioned in the space below the fuel tank and the driver's seat and behind the engine, and are laterally covered with a side cover.
It would be preferable for the side cover to fully cover the foregoing motorcycle elements for the purpose of protecting them completely. However, such a side cover arrangement would be disadvantageous in that the heat emitted from the engine positioned near the side cover tends to increase the temperature in the space surrounded by the side cover. If the battery and the reservoir tank were covered with the side cover, the side cover would have to be detached at the time of checking the battery and the reservoir tank for liquid levels.